COPYRIGHT, PLEASE NOTE

All the material on this website is copyrighted to J-P Metsavainio, if not otherwise stated. Any content on this website may not be reproduced without the author’s permission.

Have a visit in my portfolio

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Universe, rated by stars?


Just little something...

Rated universe, how many stars?


I used my image of a globular cluster NGC 6752 for the poster. Original image and technical details can be found HERE.







Sunday, May 12, 2013

A starless Melotte 15 in IC 1805, the Heart Nebula



For some reason, I like to make starless versions of my astronomical images now and then. They'll show the actual nebula better and have a kind of mystique feel. 
Human brains has a tendency to form some quasi logical shapes out of cloud of random dots, like stars in this case. Without stars, the shapes in a gas cloud stands out much better, I think.

A starless Melotte 15 in IC 1805

Image with a suppressed stars, click for a large image.
Original image with a technical details can be seen in THIS blog post.

Image with the stars

Melotte 15 area in IC 1805, the Heart Nebula
Original image with a technical details can be seen in THIS blog post.


INFO

The "Heart Nebula", IC1805 locates about 7500 light years away in constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glow of ionized elements in a gas cloud and some darker dust lanes.
In a very center of the nebula, lays Melotte 15, it contains few very bright stars, nearly 50 times mass of our Sun, and many dim ones. The solar wind, a radiation pressure, from massive stars makes the gas twist to a various shapes.

Technical details

Processing work flow:
Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Levels, curves and color combine in PS CS3.

Optics, Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f5
Camera, QHY9
Guiding, SXV-AO, an active optics unit, and Lodestar guide camera 8Hz
Image Scale, ~0,8 arc-seconds/pixel
18 x 1200s exposures for the H-alpha, emission of ionized Hydrogen = 6h
Narrowband cahnnels for ionized Oxygen and Sulfur are taken from an older wide field images.







Thursday, May 9, 2013

Dead Stars Society, a collection of passed away stars



I made a poster format presentation out of my photos of exploded stars. In this collection, there are two types of dead stars, Planetary Nebulae and Supernova remnants. Images are not in scale.
Individual images, with some information, can be found from my portfolio: http://astroanarchy.zenfolio.com/


Dead Stars Society
Planetary Nebulae & Supernovae

Note. A large image, 6MB. Images are not in scale.





Monday, May 6, 2013

New collection of my B&W images



I have a gray scale version from all of my astronomical images. The camera used, QHY9, is a cooled astronomical camera and it has a gray scale CCD-sensor. Color images are made by shooting the same target at least three times, with different filters. Three images are then combined to a RGB-color image.
Due to that, I have a gray scale version from every target. Usually the light emitted by ionized Hydrogen, H-alpha, has most details and I made a collection out of them. 

A high resolution, gray scale, image collection in my portfolio, please have a look: 
(Second folder from top left)

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula in IC 1396, more info and a color version in this blog post.


You can buy a photographic print from any image at first two folders in my portfolio, http://astroanarchy.zenfolio.com/

All prints will be real photographic prints on photo paper. For the most exclusive result, metallic paper can be used.
Metallic prints give a distinctive look to most color shots, black & white and sepia images are particularly effective. With its glossy finish and metallic appearance, it represents another dimension for creating images with exceptional interest and depth. Metallic paper adds stunning visual impact and a contemporary flair to  photos.

If you don't want to use the web shop or want images be framed, signed and numbered, please contact directly to me by email: astroanarchy (at) gmail.com